When the rains may come (Science Fiction)

18. The Last Hand

"The fortress mode...the fortress mode is disengaged! This is your chance!" The voice of the operative boomed into the the pilot's headset. He passed the message to Agent Luce who was in the passenger deck of the military freight carrier aircraft, gazing out the window as they depressed in altitude. 

Luce had changed from his three piece suit into a kevlar vest and his semi-automatic machine gun rested on his lap. The pilot's voice buzzed in his helmet. Luce gave a single nod and relayed a message himself to the people in the loading deck below him. "The fortress mode is disengaged. The enemy is vulnerable. Throw the riders. I repeat, Throw the riders. Over."

#

Marllowe watched the plane appear out of the clouds. He immediately engaged the crosshairs, locking in one of the turbine engines. But before he could fire, Lisa latched onto his arm. "Marllowe no! Look!" She cried out as the plane nosed lower and lower, flying almost at the height of fifty feet now. This was almost too dangerously low. 

That's when the back hatch opened and two large, broad ropes flew out of the opening. And at the end of the ropes were two operatives on what looked like motorcycles they drove on hilly terrains. 

"I don't feel so good about this, Marllowe. We should leave."

"No! We have the truck, they can't hurt us."

"Marllowe, don't be reckless please--"

Marllowe put the truck in reverse but now he had shifted his targets from the plane and onto the riders who had let go of the ropes and were now racing towards them on their motorcycles. 

The plane was now right above them. Marllowe was about to start firing at the riders when a big cloud of blue smoke exploded right in front of them. Marllowe lost his aim. And then something huge clattered on the roof of the truck. The inside of the truck rattled but it didn't hurt the vehicle itself. 

"What the heck?!" Lisa was clinging to the dashboard. Marllowe floored the gas pedal and kept backing the truck. But there was another huge blast. The blue cloud somehow got thicker. 

"The bastards are throwing more and more smoke screens!" Marllowe growled. 

"Keep backing the truck, the screen has got to end somewhere!" Lisa yelled.  

Marllowe was doing that but the blue mist seemed to only grow denser the farther back they went. 

That's when the truck seemed to hit a huge bump. And then Marllowe felt more activity on the roof of the truck, a pair of footsteps seemed to creep up right above them. He looked up at the monitor and the last thing the gyrocam showed them was a hand holding what looked like a canister with a nozzle. A sheen of blackness seemed to cover up the dome protecting the gyro-cam. Now every feedback on the monitor was just abyssal darkness

Lisa's face went pale under her mask. "T-They've blinded us!" She cried out in a trembling voice. 

Even Marllowe was in shock now. They knew that the two of them won't leave the truck, he thought. "So they are trapping us in it?" The truck had slowed down by now. 

Lisa panicked. "Wh-Why are you slowing down?! Keep hitting the gas! We might still make it out!"

She couldn't see it but Marllowe was now frowning under his dark plexiglass helmet. "I'm trying...th-the truck isn't responding." 

Lisa gaped at him. "How is that even possible?!" 

# 

The operative that had sprayed the black graffiti paint over the gyrocam shield was now hanging down from the back of the truck, pulling out a twelve inch cube from a compartment in the side of the truck where a normal truck would've had its gas tank. The cube seemed to be made of the same shiny chromium like material that the truck was made of. A liquid orange light swirled inside the cube which was visible through a strip of durable polycarbonate glass. The operative secured the cube in a small pelican case and slid the case into a pouch on his waist. "Sir Luce, the core is acquired now." He said into the walkie talkie strapped to the shoulder of kevlar suit. "The truck won't be able to function."